Gates disputed those reports, but he never states he doesn't support the FBI in this case. I think the key take away from that video is: > Gates: With the rig

Gates disputed those reports, but he never states he doesn't support the FBI in this case. I think the key take away from that video is: > Gates: With the right safe guards in place there are cases where the government, on our behalf [...] He also dodges the direct question about his position entirely. He's not trying to make his position very clear, but he is certainly angling to support the FBI's position. Lots of references to terrorism in that interview. Edit: from a PR perspective, this does make a lot of sense for MS: use a board member/someone closely associated with them to probe the public's position, then give the public some assurance to ensure they don't all leave for Apple, while at the same time allowing the state to see that MS's support of Apple in this case isn't concrete.